YOUR THOUGHTS, YOUR CRIMES
(C)1994 Alan M. Schwartz
The framers of the US Constitution, being well schooled in the
history of European despotism and other God-bestowed government,
were determined to not again allow such autocracy. Smugglers,
libertines and official criminals all, Jefferson, Franklin,
Washington, Adams et al. understood that government was the
problem, not the solution. A nation of citizens possessing the
absolute freedom to privately pursue their lives and prospering
beyond all imagination was their goal. The Constitution grants
our government limited powers. All other powers, rights and
dominions are natural unencumbered possessions of the people to
exercise as is their wont. It says so, right on the package.
That has proved to be rather inconvenient in fact when there is
so much money to be quietly manipulated, washed and personally
secured via the Vietnam war, clandestine foreign aid, oil money,
tax favors, drug smuggling, grant bestowal... A nation of petty
thieves has been overwhelmed by one vast and omnipotent
professional brigand - Government itself. It is not merely
content with the loot. It broaches absolute intolerance of even
adverse thought - in the interests of national security.
People harboring seditious thoughts of private lives secure from
government eavesdropping were mostly harmless until recently.
Unless they owned a radio station, TV station, movie studio or
publishing house they might be noisy but they were isolated.
Government could always tap their phones or open their mail and
listen in. Xerox machines hardly made a dent in an individual's
personal access to humanity. Digital embodiments of voice,
pictures and data make it much harder to listen in. Computers
are within financial or physical reach of nearly everyone. The
Internet connects any correspondent to the entire world, across
national borders in real time beyond government jurisdiction.
Encipherment/encryption gave people a rosy feeling of isolation
from Big Brother. Big Brother has the National Security Agency.
The NSA wields a huge and classified budget to listen to
everything. The federal Digital Encryption Standard was a joke.
When pressed under the thumb of tyranny, men of genius will arise
to smite Goliath between his eyes with a tiny stone. An adept
named Phil Zimmermann did a naughty thing. His Pretty Good
Privacy programs based upon Rivest-Shamir-Adelman public-key
algorithms may be unbreakable encipherments. At the very least,
Big Brother and the NSA are having a fit over PGP and the entire
"Cypherpunk" movement.. Phil Zimmermann may ultimately face a
firing squad after more proximate government-levied personal and
financial ruin. I suppose PGP works as advertised. Download it
from the Internet or your local BBS.
John Draper, aka Captain Crunch, used the 2.6 KHz whistle from a
Cap'n Crunch Cereal box to loop his voice around the earth seven
times as he hacked into Ma Bell's Long Lines trunk. When cereal
prizes defeat a multi-billion dollar public monopoly we conclude
that the experts are not experts at all, just awesomely powerful
bullies. The government proposes a Clipper chip using a secret
Skipjack algorithm to assure private communication security
unless a duly issued subpoena pulls the encryption keys from
government agencies' escrow. How secure can you get? You can
use PGP. If you think the US government is honorable, remember
Form 1040 and April 15. Why does the IRS need its own courts?
Phil Zimmerman's Internet e-mail address is prz@acm.org. If you
need comprehensive information about shareware PGP contact Hugh
Miller at hmiller@lucpul.it.luc.edu. If you are a for-profit
corporation you can purchase a user license and sophisticated
commercial PGP package from ViaCrypt (Phoeniz, AZ 1-602-944-0773,
e-mail <70304.41@compuserve.com>).
How well does PGP prevent federal bureaucrats and their hireling
enforcers from prying into your private digital affairs?
Consider: Zimmermann is heir to the full force and fury of an
outraged government which, although basking within the rich
financial opportunities inherent in its War on Drugs, has set
aside the time to squash a noisome bug. His attorney is
Philip Dubois
2305 Broadway
Boulder, CO USA 80304
(Phone #: 303-444-3885)
I do not deny that there are evil people in the world, nor do I
deny that society needs protection from some of them. To
legislate, regulate, enforce and prosecute an end to personal
privacy within a country is a heinous crime and a bold statement
of tyranny, not one of benign in loco parentis. Big Brother
demands the right to plunge a cold and calloused hand deep into
your shorts, the better to feel around for something officially
unwelcome, the better to squeeze. Lest your private parts fall
prey to official intrusions you had better get yourself a much
stouter pair of knickers - and wear them.